Sunday, November 29, 2015

The Goodness of the LORD even in the waiting

The season in the valley has been long, and still is.

As the kids and I are studing Countries and Cultures this year we are currently in Norway.

There are cities in Norway who kiss the sun good bye in Sept and wait for it's return counting  6  l o n g months.  Right before the sun returns they make a day's journey climbing the mountains to welcome back the sun.  It truely is a sight to behold.  Imagine the joy of seeing the sun again after such a long wait.

God's word says in Psalm 27:13-14
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

To be honest there have been times in the last 6 years when I thought I was going to loss heart, I didn't think I could move forward another step.  Knowing His word doesn't lie, I held on to what looked only like a thin strand of hope and continued to wait.

As I continue to wait.......Jesus has so tenderly and graciously blessed a little girl in my life who has suffered so much with a fountain of joy.  For two weeks now she wakes from her slumber in smiles and bubbles of laughs,     all. day. long.

I feel like the people of Norway who have waited and even grew weary in their waiting (even calling this season the murky time and grow hungry to see the sun as if they haven't eaten for months) but have treked up the mountain to behold  the sun and are taking it all in.  I'm taking this gift, this grace.. all in, even though waiting continues.

So thankful for His grace over and in my daughter today.  He has strengthen my heart and I'm beholding these moments of His goodness in this land of the living, knowing that one day the mortal will be further clothed with immortality and sight will be given to faith.
 The great I AM is in our midst.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

When suffering is long

I can't tell you what it's like to care for your daughter 24/7 for sixteen plus years - day in and day out of suffering.
It's gut wrenching, painful.....
You try to run,
                     hide, 
                          turn your head, 
                                 pretend it isn't.
You try to pray it all away........
    and yet God doesn't answer in the way you want.......
                  you so desperately desire.  

So you have two choices, two options.....

1.   To run, run away
       turn your face away from God,  just like we were when we were born into this world....
            faces away and clutched fists

Or

2. You face the pain head on into the arms of a loving God who does redeem, saves and heals.............
But not always to our liking - which forces you to press in even more because it feels as if your very breath will be taken away in the pain and yet........
        He faithfully , Jesus faithfully gives you the next breath and the next breath and the next. In the taking of breathes you realize in this hard and broken world that even your very breath is a gift........
  a gift from Him, the One who creates.....and restores.  
You realize that on the day when all your days are done, are over, and you take your very last breath, once again He faithfully, Jesus faithfully will bring you from death to life.  Life in His very presence, into everlasting joy, where every tear is wiped away and everything is restored.  Peace and rest are finally realized.

It's a breaking of our will to walk this road.  A "not my will, but Yours, be done." (Luke 23:42)
It's His kindness, His mercy, His grace that makes all this possible.  
He is good.....even in pain and suffering.
He is good, He restores, He heals even though sometimes it doesn't look the way we want it to look and the road is long.
His mercy leads to repentance 
      Which leads to life 
                                  new life.